Millions expected to be out of power after Hurricane Irma, FPL says

Florida Power & Light Co. assembling 11,000 crew members to restore power after Hurricane Irma.

Florida Power & Light Co. assembling 11,000 crew members to restore power after Hurricane Irma.

Marcia Heroux PoundsSun Sentinel

Get ready to be hot and sweaty — even inside your house.

Millions of people can expect to be out of power for “weeks, if not more,” if Hurricane Irma remains on track through South Florida, Florida Power & Light Co. said Thursday.

“This is not about repairing. It’s about replacing,” said Eric Silagy, president and CEO of the electric utility, which provides power for about half the state. He said the cost could eventually be as high as $1 billion to rebuild the company’s power grid. But after the storm, FPL will focus on getting power restored as soon as it can — grid improvements can come later.

“We’re going to get power up, get people’s lives back up and running,” he said.

As a potential Category 5 storm approaches with wind speeds ranging up to 185 mph, “the system will be under significant duress,” said FPL spokesman Rob Gould at a press conference at the company’s storm command center in Riviera Beach.

Even though FPL says it has “one of the strongest grids in America,” Gould said “no grid is designed to be able to withstand a Category 5 storm that has wind approaching 185 mph.”

FPL said it expects some houses and other buildings will be destroyed by the storm, precluding any reconnections.

“If a home is destroyed or in condition where it is uninhabitable, we simply can’t restore power to them,” Gould said. Those homes would have to be repaired and inspected first.

Flooding also would slow the restoration process.

FPL warned homeowners to keep generators far away from their houses, to stay away from deadly downed power lines after the storm, and to refrain from using power chargers on floors, which could be dangerous with potential flooding.

Customers should report their power outages by going on FPL’s mobile app or on www.FPL.com. In restoring power, customers can check the app, online, or call 800-468-8243 to obtain information through FPL’s automated system.

FPL said it has 11,000 crew members available, including workers from utilities in California and Wisconsin. The company is still recruiting more, but some repair crews remain tied up repairing damage in Texas from Hurricane Harvey. Others are waiting to see if their states will suffer damage from Irma, or from Hurricanes Jose and Katia.

For Hurricane Matthew last year, FPL had 15,000 crew members ready to restore power.

Crews will be deployed to 22 staging sites around the state. FPL has mobilized thousands of employees and pieces of equipment in preparation for Hurricane Irma. The company began a 24-hour storm watch on Wednesday.

FPL also said it would power down its nuclear power plants at Turkey Point in Homestead and St. Lucie in Jensen Beach in advance of hurricane-force winds. Those plants won’t be restarted until evacuation routes are safe and inspections are completed by the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

“Hurricane Andrew [in 1992], the eye of the storm came over the top of Turkey Point, and there was no damage to any of the nuclear components,” Gould said. “Our St. Lucie plant, during 2004 with Frances and Jeanne, also was in path of the storm and didn’t suffer any kind of damage.”

The utility has five million customer accounts that serve about 10 million people. And 90 percent of FPL’s customers live or work in coastal areas.

FPL said that 40 percent of its distribution system now is underground or “hardened” to better weather hurricane winds. Concrete and even improved wooden utility poles can withstand up to 145 mph winds, the utility said.

FPL has stockpiled than $100 million — or nearly double the equipment in normally stores for a Category 4 storm, according to Barry Wilkinson, a logistics manager.

After Hurricane Matthew brushed past South Florida last year, FPL was able to quickly restore power in less than a week in Broward, Palm Beach and Miami-Dade counties. In that storm, winds reached a maximum of 67 miles per hour in Palm Beach County only — less than a Category 1.

During Hurricane Wilma in 2005 — the last major storm to sweep through South Florida — about 2.5 million customers lost power. It took FPL 18 days to restore the majority of electricity, with some customers without power for as long as three weeks.

Gould said there was “significant rebuild” after Hurricane Andrew, the last category 5 hurricane to hit South Florida.

Since the spate of major hurricanes that hit the state in 2004 and 2005, FPL has upgraded much of its electric grid, investing $3 billion since 2006.

FPL said it has strengthened nearly 860 main power lines, serving critical operations including police and fire stations, hospitals, 911 centers, grocery stores and gas stations; inspected 1.2 million power poles every eight years and replacing 150,000 annually. It installed more than 4.9 million “smart” meters and 83,000 devices to help reduce, predict and monitor power outages; and cleared vegetation from more than 150,000 miles of power lines.

The utility said it will post information on at Facebook.com/FPLConnect and Twitter.com/InsideFPL.